Validation Made Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

I wasn't voted Most Likely To Succeed,
In high school.
Afterall...
Who would declare,
In 1965 a desire to find success as a writer?

A doctor, a lawyer, a minister?
A fireman?
A basketball or a football star?
Okay!

'What did he say...
A 'writer'? '

Are they laughing at me?

I didn't declare that to get attention.
I knew what I was.

Today I hear 'kids' with wishes to be...
A movie, rap or singing star.
Baseball, basketball...
Or a football great.
Nurses and doctors too.
Afterall, they make 'money'...
That's what I hear them say.

But a writer?
And of poetry?

Are they laughing at me?

'Medic?
We've got one over here.
Delusional and hallucinating.
See what can be done.
If nothing...
Forget it! '

Well...
Very few writers make money,
Doing what they do.
And my name aint Twain, Langston...
Or Maya Angelou!
I did know Zora Neale Hurston's family.

Her brother Edgar, his wife and kids,
Lived in Bellevue Square in Hartford....
As me and my family did.
I grew up with their children.
And Robert, the second eldest son...
Was a good friend of mine.
Oh...
How I hate to name drop!

And fame?
Who said anything about wanting to be famous?

I said I was a writer.
Aint nothing about that has changed.
But I wish I had some bucks for my efforts.
Especially as I've age with a validation made.